Team HTC-HighRoad's Tony Martin of Germany claimed the overall leader's yellow jersey after winning Friday's sixth stage of the 2011 Paris-Nice, a 27-kilometer time-trial from Rognes to Aix-en-Provence.

Team HTC-HighRoad's Tony Martin of Germany claimed the overall leader's yellow jersey after winning Friday's sixth stage of the 2011 Paris-Nice, a 27-kilometer time-trial from Rognes to Aix-en-Provence.

The 25-year-old HTC-Highroad rider won in 33 minutes and 24 seconds, with Bradley Wiggins of Britain and Team Sky finishing second, 20 seconds behind the German time trial champion. Team Saxo Bank-SunGard's Richie Porte of Australia took third place, 29 seconds back.

Martin is now ahead of former leader Andreas Kloeden (Team RadioShack) of Germany by 36 seconds in the overall standings. Wiggins is third, 39 seconds back.

"My first goal today was to win the stage," Martin commented after riding today's time trial and continued "I made it and I also have the jersey. I hope I can defend it in the next two days."

When asked to comment on the route for today's time trial Martin told Roadcycling.com/Roadcycling.mobi "It was a good course for me, not too technical and with really good roads, and I knew I could do well on it. I started out full gas, saw I had a good advantage at the time check, and then tried to keep everything under control on the final climb."

"Yesterday had been a hard ride through the mountains, and I didn't keep anything back for today, so it was tough going both days. There were no particular tactics, just going all out," Martin added.

Martin is optimistic about his chances in the two mountainous stages to come. "I'm confident I'll take the leader's jersey all the way to Nice, but in a race as nervous as this one you can never be too certain of anything."

"It is a race I like, though two years ago I took the King of the Mountain's jersey here, and I've always thought I could maybe win it some time. I've got a good chance. I need I really strong team to defend [my overall lead], and I have a really strong team, so I'm really confident I can bring it to Nice."

Martin was delighted to see two German riders at the top of the overall standings, and hoped that a downward trend of German cycling was finally ending. So do we.

"For sure, I hope the Germans see this and maybe come back to watching it and start to like it again - like when Jan Ullrich was very popular. I hope this will help cycling come back to Germany."

A former track specialist, Martin has often been compared to former Tour de France champion Ullrich for his powerful style and is widely considered a potential Tour de France winner.